Review: Jeff Shaara’s The Smoke at Dawn
When I originally heard that Jeff Shaara was writing a trilogy of books about the Western Theater, but that he intended to cover only Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Sherman’s March to the Sea, I was a bit put out that he was apparently skipping Chickamauga and Chattanooga. Chickamauga, I understood, since he planned to follow Grant and Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee rather than Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland. However, Chattanooga seemed too important to skip—yet apparently he was going to.
However, in 2014, much to my surprise, Shaara released The Smoke at Dawn, a novel about the battles for Chattanooga. His trilogy sprouted a fourth installment, right in the middle of his overall narrative arc—and it was an installment I welcomed.
I’ve had mixed reactions to Shaara’s writing in the past. I’m a big fan of his Mexican-American War novel, Gone for Soldiers, and I liked his rookie outing, Gods and Generals. But his Western books disappointed me a bit (see my reviews of A Blaze of Glory, his novel about Shiloh, and A Chain of Thunder, his novel about the siege of Vicksburg).
My first impression of The Smoke at Dawn mirrored that of Blaze of Glory: a slow start. But like the former novel, Smoke picked up steam—and much to my satisfaction, it picked up sooner. Once it did, it became a page-turner, and it ended strong.
I’ve always thought Shaara did a good job describing troop movements, and he continues to do so here. But where this book excels is in its action sequences. Of note: Cleburne’s defense against Sherman’s attacks at the northern tip of Missionary Ridge and the Army of the Cumberland’s assault up Missionary Ridge.
Shaara gives solid treatment to Grant and Sherman, but George Thomas comes across as probably the most interesting figure on the Union side. This is Shaara’s first opportunity to work with Thomas as a character, and in turn, those fresh eyes give readers some fresh things to think about.
On the Confederate side, Braxton Bragg—tough to admire on his own merits—is palpably peevish. The real man to watch, Patrick Cleburne, is the standout character in the entire book—not just because of his real-life exploits but because of Shaara’s excellent handling of him in the book.
For a book he didn’t originally intend to write, Chattanooga seemed to really agree with Jeff Shaara. The Smoke at Dawn was his best outing in the west thus far.
(I’ve yet to make it to Shaara’s final book in the series, The Fateful Lightning, which focuses on Sherman’s march. Lightning came out in the summer of 2015. At 640 pages, it’s the longest novel in the set. If you’ve read it, I’d be interested to hear what you thought.)
I will have to read this at some point. After my own research and writing about Chickamauga and Chattanooga, I became somewhat sympathetic to Braxton Bragg. He had problems, but he was a career soldier who cared about the army and officership. As a former career officer myself, I admire those who tried to practice their profession and be true to the profession of arms, as Bragg was, even if he did not have great victories. That is still a good quality. I read over and over his letters in the Missouri History Center in St. Louis. Two to his wife during the time, really stuck out to me what he thought.
He did not have strong mentors in his career, at least I have not gathered that from how he turned out as a commander of an army. He was not much of a maneuverist for sure. But a great what if, is had he put his focus on Longstreet’s breakthrough and got his cavalry involved in the battle, he may have bagged the entire Union army of the Cumberland. Bragg might have won the greatest Confederate victory in the war, as well as wrest the strategic initiative in his theater of war, put Atlanta out of reach for more than a year and maybe tipped the political momentum away from Lincoln so that northern Democrat Copperheads had a chance at the White House in 1864. He could have eclipsed Robert E. Lee in the history. Curious to read how he is portrayed in this work.
Along those lines, I’m looking forward to reading Earl Hess’s new biography of Bragg.
Novels, even good ones — bletch. Just not interesting to me — too much stretching the truth to spin a good yarn.
I think the primary goal of a novelist is to get at the truth, actually. They just get at it in a different way than a historian does. Even seemingly straightforward history requires a historian to add an interpretation to the facts he/she is presenting.
It is very heartening to read that George Henry Thomas gets his due in Shaara’s novel, as he has been largely overlooked in other venues. A quiet, dignified man, Thomas paid dearly for the honorable choices that he made. The much maligned “historical novel” genre opened the door to my interest in the Civil War, whilst a first time visit to Gettysburg kicked that door off the hinges, permanently. I will always have a soft spot for the elder Shaara’s Killer Angels, and the sentimental side of me will continue to root for many more successes to the younger Shaara.